13 October 1973, Saturday, 9 a.m.
The sun hung high in the sky, a perfect day for playing outside the castle or basking by a window.
Yet, over a hundred Little Wizards had gathered in the windowless, brightly lit, and spacious spare Great Hall—now the official venue for the Duelling Club—eagerly awaiting the club's first points tournament.
Those with golden badges pinned to their collars and holding short pieces of parchment were official club members. The rest were friends they had brought along—this was an internal event, and outsiders could not participate unless invited by an official member, at least for now.
Professor Flitwick, Professor Stokke, and the prefects from all four Houses were present.
Twelve small duelling platforms, slightly raised from the polished floor, were arranged neatly throughout the hall. Along the walls stood various types of spell-training dummies.
Behind the duelling platforms, a conspicuous granite long table displayed ten cylindrical objects of different sizes—some appeared to be natural minerals, others metal.
Near the entrance, sandwiches, snacks, water, and pumpkin juice had been laid out—courtesy of the house-elves in the kitchens.
Regulus, dressed in a neatly fitted suit beneath his House cloak, sat on a high stool at a scribe's desk. A scorebook opened automatically in front of him, and a quill popped out, writing the date in the top left corner of the page.
"Good morning! Welcome to the Duelling Club's first points tournament—today's results will determine your initial ranking on the leaderboard."
"Board One will record the scores for sixth- and seventh-years, Board Two for fourth- and fifth-years, and Board Three for second- and third-years," Regulus announced.
"We'll also have a fourth board—designed by Professor Flitwick—but I'll keep that a secret for now and introduce it after the competition."
"The matches for Board One will be personally supervised by Professor Flitwick, Board Two guided by Professor Stokke, and Board Three overseen by the prefects on rotation. Let's give them our heartfelt thanks!"
A round of applause broke out.
"The competition will use a double-elimination format with a resurrection round. A participant is officially eliminated only after two losses. After the first round, winners advance directly, while the losers will enter paired resurrection matches. There will be no resurrection matches after the quarter-finals. Scoring will be automatically handled by the magical quills."
"Your match times and platforms will be displayed on the parchment you're holding. Please keep it with you at all times. Without further ado, Students whose names are called for the first round—please take your places at your assigned platforms. All others, follow the announcements or refer to the parchment in your hands."
"Please be on time—we will not wait for latecomers."
…
After concisely announcing the rules, Regulus began reading out the match list while the other Little Wizards stood behind the yellow line, watching eagerly.
He lightly hopped down from the high stool and walked over to his older brother, who was standing near the lower-year match area.
Meanwhile, James stood beside Sirius, seriously counting on his fingers, trying to work out the system for "resurrection matches," "points," and the rest.
"Regulus, only you could sort out such complicated rules," Sirius said with a smile, instantly making the hearts of several nearby Little Witches skip a beat.
Regulus shrugged. A competitive club he'd been in before had used a similar format—he'd simply copied the structure and adapted it with input from Professor Flitwick and others. Safety was the top priority, and the venue couldn't be too large, in case they couldn't supervise everything properly.
"Technology changes lives," Regulus said, raising the parchment in his hand. "Our developing paper really pulled its weight. It's no exaggeration—Professor Flitwick praised me for three minutes straight and even awarded points to Slytherin. I told him you were involved too, and he gave you twenty points."
"Yeah," Sirius grinned, a genuine smile lighting up his face, "we're not bad at all, are we?"
"Is this—your Transfiguration work?" A pleasant voice filled with surprise and curiosity came from just over Sirius's shoulder.
Vibrant green eyes, soft, delicate red hair—it was Lily Evans.
Regulus nodded with a smile and greeted politely, "Hello, Miss Evans. And Miss Macdonald."
This was Regulus's first time speaking to Lily Evans—the girl the Marauders had been pining over for years.
Lily was perfectly composed, but her friend Mary Macdonald's eyebrows arched in delight. Her face lit up with a girlish blush as she beamed.
She had never imagined that the most handsome boy of the school, Regulus Black—of Slytherin, no less—would speak to her, and so gently, too. She couldn't even get a word out, only managing a frantic nod.
James, standing beside Sirius, wore an expression as if he'd just swallowed an egg whole.
"When is your match, Miss Evans?"
"It should be soon." Lily looked down at the developing parchment, held it to her chest, then glanced up again. She looked at the close friend of Severus Snape—Severus had spoken about Regulus nearly the entire summer.
He seemed like a good person, completely lacking the usual arrogance seen in many pure-blood Wizards.
"Amazing magic! You're only a second-year, aren't you? I daresay many older students couldn't do this," Lily said admiringly, her sincere smile sparkling.
"Don't forget my brother's part," Regulus replied, pulling a small glass bottle from his pocket and giving it a gentle shake. "Severus must've given you the 'Vitality Tonic' too, right?"
"Mhm." Lily nodded, then asked curiously, "What are those stones on the long table for?"
Regulus smiled mysteriously. "You'll find out after today's matches are over."
"Is it related to that fourth board you mentioned?" Lily asked playfully. When Regulus didn't answer, she grinned. "Alright then, I'll wait patiently."
...
Regulus won his first match without any suspense.
...
Second match...
While waiting, he calmly cast a Patronus Charm, using it to send back the snake summoned by Avery's Serpensortia.
He ruled it as Dark Magic and disqualified Avery for two months, much to Professor Flitwick's satisfaction—and happily received additional points in return.
Third match...
While waiting, he cast the Lax Charm to separate two fourth-years who had started wrestling each other.
Both were pursuing the same girl, and as expected, when rivals met, sparks flew—resulting in black eyes in the name of love. Both were banned from duelling for two months.
Fourth match...
While waiting, he used a Reviving Charm to wake a third-year who had been knocked unconscious. Severus promptly provided the appropriate potion.
While waiting, he also used Aguamenti, quickly summoning a localised downpour to extinguish the uncontrollable flames conjured by a panicking fifth-year.
The fifth-year prefects overseeing the match were left speechless.
During this time, he also duelled Severus. James was eliminated by Lily, and Lily was eliminated by Sirius.
The final match...
It all felt very familiar—
He couldn't help it; the opponent standing before him had been sparring with him all summer—
His own brother, Sirius Black!
"I knew you'd make it to the end," Sirius said, then bowed to his younger brother. "Don't hold back."
On the duelling platform, Sirius's hair hung down in that effortlessly elegant way.
"Heh~ Of course—not you either," Regulus replied, raising his wand.
This duel between the Black brothers undoubtedly drew everyone's attention.
Slytherin prefect Foley took a deep breath and shouted, "Begin!"
Regulus raised his wand, and a blaze of orange fire erupted from the tip.
The flame wove itself into a wide net, spreading in the air and descending over Sirius's head without hesitation—!!
The intensity of his casting was clearly greater than in his previous matches.
That was the special treatment reserved for his own brother.
"Protego! Glacius!" Sirius shouted. The two spells crossed, forming dual layers of defence and generating a veil of steaming mist between them.
But Regulus's spell was faster than expected—a beam of light darted towards Sirius's side!
Swoosh!
Sirius instinctively twisted his body, his long hair swinging with the motion. The spell skimmed past his robes—barely a miss—and another followed swiftly behind!
The two Blacks were locked in combat, completely focused, trading precise and rapid spells as the audience watched, holding their breath. Several Little Witches clasped their hands to their chests in nervous anticipation—Swoosh! Boom!
This was the first time Regulus had truly unleashed his spellcasting: a continuous stream of magic, each spell flawlessly transitioning into the next, the control razor-sharp.
If it were me... could I handle this? Only Rabastan Lestrange remained silent, not joining in the round of applause—he hadn't even had time to gloat about securing temporary third place on Board Two before slipping into a spiral of self-doubt...
Booom!
When one of Regulus's spells finally broke through Sirius's shield with force, Professor Flitwick jumped to his feet and applauded enthusiastically. Beside him, Professors McGonagall and Sprout had also come over to see what the commotion was about—
Unlike the Little Wizards, who could only watch the spectacle, the professors had already noticed Regulus's outstanding magical ability in class.
What surprised them more now was his precise judgement—he wasn't merely casting spells; he was constantly calculating, applying pressure, and searching for openings.
—This was clearly the result of systematic training!
We can increase the difficulty of the coursework for these two Blacks, Professor McGonagall thought, holding the developing parchment in her hand. A faint smile appeared on her usually tight-lipped, beautiful face.
"Minerva, the Little Wizards are truly improving by the day!" Professor Sprout remarked with delight. She hadn't seen Regulus cast spells often and was perhaps the most astonished among the staff.
Professor McGonagall nodded, the satisfaction evident in her expression.
"Indeed!" Professor Flitwick said cheerfully. "Ah, it's truly heartwarming to see young students manage to get the Duelling Club up and running!"
"Pomona, Minerva! You must watch the matches on the fourth board later. If you ask me, that's where the truly interesting part is!"
_____
I believe there are people reading this; shame the WN algorithm isn't detecting it.
I'll try uploading everyday this week, but if the insights are still shitty, I'll have to stop.